Darwinism, traditional linguistics and the new Palaeolithic Continuity Theory of language evolution

2006 ◽  
pp. 121-147 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mario Alinei
Keyword(s):  
Language Evolution ◽  
Continuity Theory ◽  
Theory Of Language

scholarly journals Gestural and symbolic development among apes and humans: support for a multimodal theory of language evolution

2014 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristen Gillespie-Lynch ◽  
Patricia M. Greenfield ◽  
Heidi Lyn ◽  
Sue Savage-Rumbaugh
Keyword(s):  
Language Evolution ◽  
Theory Of Language

Sign languages are problematic for a gestural origins theory of language evolution

2005 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 130-131 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen Emmorey
Keyword(s):  
Language Evolution ◽  
Sign Languages ◽  
Theory Of Language

Sign languages exhibit all the complexities and evolutionary advantages of spoken languages. Consequently, sign languages are problematic for a theory of language evolution that assumes a gestural origin. There are no compelling arguments why the expanding spiral between protosign and protospeech proposed by Arbib would not have resulted in the evolutionary dominance of sign over speech.

Gesture is an intrinsic part of modern-day human communication and may always have been so

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Goldin-Meadow
Keyword(s):  
Language Evolution ◽  
Single System ◽  
Human Language ◽  
Human Communication ◽  
Sign Languages ◽  
Theory Of Language

This chapter reviews three types of evidence from current-day languages consistent with the view that human language has always drawn upon both the manual and oral modalities, a view that is contra the gesture-first theory of language evolution. First, gesture and speech form a single system, with speech using a categorical format and gesture a mimetic format. Second, when this system is disrupted, as when speech is not possible, the manual modality takes over the categorical forms typical of speech. Finally, when the manual modality assumes a categorical format, as in sign languages of the Deaf, mimetic forms do not disappear but arise in the gestures signers produce as they sign. This picture of modern-day language is consistent with the view that gesture and speech have both been part of human language from the beginning.

The modernization of the Japanese system of communication

1974 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-50 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. V. Neustupný
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Language Evolution ◽  
National Language ◽  
Language Problems ◽  
Theory Of Language

ABSTRACTThe aim of this paper is twofold. First, the author wishes to suggest an evolutionary typology of languages (early modern, modern, contemporary, etc.) and to specify the position of present day Japanese on this evolutionary scale. Secondly, it suggests a way to integrate the concept of linguistic modernization with a theory of language problems, and shows that for modernization at least two types of processes, macro-modernization and micro-modernization, must be distinguished. The former concerns such tasks as the establishment of a modern national language and as far as Japan is concerned this process has been completed. The latter process concerns problems such as the individual's use of language. It still awaits its completion. (Sociolinguistic typology, language evolution, linguistic modernization, Japan.)

Scavenging, the stag hunt, and the evolution of language

2011 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
pp. 447-480 ◽  
Author(s):  
BRADY CLARK
Keyword(s):  
Game Theory ◽  
Communication Systems ◽  
Language Evolution ◽  
Empirical Support ◽  
Evolution Of Language ◽  
Stag Hunt ◽  
Initial Stage ◽  
Theory Of Language ◽  
Early Hominin

This article evaluates Derek Bickerton's 2009 theory of language evolution. Bickerton argues that language was the result of a need to recruit individuals to help in the scavenging of carcasses of megafauna. The signals used for recruitment at the earliest stage of language evolution were iconic and could be used to refer to objects outside the sensory range of the receiver(s). Bickerton's scenario is an example of what is described in game theory as a stag hunt. We can, by recasting Bickerton's scenario as a stag hunt, identify criteria that any account of the transition to language must satisfy. There are several hurdles we would need to jump over to demonstrate that Bickerton's model is valid. First, not much is known about early hominin scavenging. While the available evidence is compatible with Bickerton's scenario, it is compatible with other scenarios as well. Second, Bickerton argues that, at the initial stage of language evolution, signals were grounded in salient aspects of the environment. The empirical support for natural salience as a determinant of the communication systems used at the earliest stages of language evolution is mixed at best; communication systems can arise spontaneously in the absence of natural salience. Third, maintaining communication systems is nontrivial because of the incentive to deceive.

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